Effort to help family of Marine killed by deputy gains public support

Feb. 13, 2012

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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In this undated image, Marine Sgt. Manuel Loggins is pictured at Stanbridge College in Irvine with a classmate whose face has been blurred for privacy reasons. Loggins was studying nursing at the time. PHOTO COURTESY OF DARLENE PATINO

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Someone placed a memorial Friday to slain Marine Sgt. Manuel Loggins at the base of the Marine Monument at San Clemente's Park Semper Fi. PHOTO COURTESY OF WAYNE EGGLESTON

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This bronze statue of a Marine is the centerpiece of San Clemente's Park Semper Fi. FRED SWEGLES, REGISTER FILE PHOTO

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Sheriff's investigators work last week near a GMC Yukon SUV with a gate wedged beneath it. Officials say the driver, identified as Camp Pendleton Marine Sgt. Manuel Loggins, drove through a gate and onto a San Clemente High School parking lot before being fatally shot by an Orange County sheriff's deputy. KEN STEINHARDT, REGISTER FILE PHOTO

In this undated image, Marine Sgt. Manuel Loggins is pictured at Stanbridge College in Irvine with a classmate whose face has been blurred for privacy reasons. Loggins was studying nursing at the time. PHOTO COURTESY OF DARLENE PATINO

Public support for the family of a Camp Pendleton Marine sergeant shot to death by a sheriff's deputy last week at San Clemente High School is growing, and efforts to establish a memorial fund are under way, said Wayne Eggleston, a former San Clemente mayor and founder of the Marine Monument at the city's Park Semper Fi.

Eggleston said Monday that he received 32 emails over the weekend after The Orange County Register reported that Eggleston was trying to launch fundraising and other efforts to help Sgt. Manuel Loggins' wife and three children. His wife has another child on the way.

"It's mostly people saying we should do something for the kids," Eggleston said. "A few (suggested) an educational fund. People said they would do fundraisers."

Eggleston's Heritage of San Clemente Foundation helps manage Park Semper Fi – a small park overlooking the San Clemente Pier – and provides the city with funds to maintain the park and its 12-foot-tall bronze statue of a saluting Marine in dress blues. Eggleston said he is contacting other organizations to help put together a fund and a website. It would be separate from marinemonument.com, which is focused on maintaining Park Semper Fi, Eggleston said.

Someone placed a small memorial to Loggins at the foot of the Marine Monument on Friday.

Marano's response was "very appreciative," Eggleston said. "He thought an educational fund would be very appropriate. Education was very important to Sgt. Loggins, who was attending nursing school."

To learn more about Eggleston's efforts to help the family or to get involved, email heritage@marinemonument.com. Eggleston said he is responding to every email he receives.

Loggins, 31, died Feb. 7 after being shot by an Orange County sheriff's deputy at about 4:40 a.m. in a San Clemente High School parking lot off Avenida Pico. Sheriff's officials said Friday that the unidentified deputy feared for the lives of Loggins' two eldest children in an SUV Loggins drove into the lot. Earlier, authorities said the deputy had feared for his own life.

Sheriff's officials said Loggins disobeyed the deputy's orders after crashing the white GMC Yukon through a gate at the high school and stepping out of the vehicle.

Loggins walked toward the school athletic field and remained there about five minutes, leaving his 9- and 14-year-old daughters in the vehicle, screaming, said Jim Amormino, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department. Loggins then returned but continued to ignore the deputy's orders to stop as he made his way to the Yukon, Amormino said.

Loggins made some comments that concerned the deputy, Amormino said. "The concern the deputy had was for the safety of the kids if he allowed Loggins to leave with the children," Amormino said.

Loggins was in the vehicle when the deputy fired, Amormino said.

Sheriff's officials would not say what Loggins said during his exchange with the deputy. They added there was no evidence that Loggins was armed.

Officials released those details three days after the shooting, stating that an investigation is ongoing and that information is being released as it is obtained.

Several of Loggins' relatives, friends and colleagues have said the details released so far are contradictory to what they knew of Loggins, whom they called a respected and religious Marine who followed the chain of command and expected everyone else to do so as well.

"He always set the example and set the bar high for everyone," said Mark Raymond, who was in the Marines from 2004 to 2008. Loggins served as Raymond's sergeant in 2005 while the two were stationed at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

"I wish everyone had a sergeant like I did," Raymond said. "He watched out for you."

People who knew Loggins said erratic behavior was not like him.

"If someone asked him to do something, it was, 'Yes, sir' or 'No, sir,'" said Darlene Patino, who attended Stanbridge College, a nursing school in Irvine, with Loggins. "If an officer told him to get on the ground, he's going to do it and 'Yes, sir.'"

"He wanted to have a career, something he could continue to do," Patino said. "He knew he couldn't stay in the military forever. He loved people and he was fascinated by the (health) field."

Loggins often talked of his family and mentioned that he would take his young daughters for walks early in the morning because he was always busy and wanted to spend time with them, Patino said.

During those walks, he sometimes read the Bible with the girls and discussed it, Patino said.

During his military service, Loggins received three Marine Corps Good Conduct Medals. He also received a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, two Navy Unit Commendations, the National Defense Service Medal, a Korean Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

As in other shootings involving law-enforcement officers, the county District Attorney's Office is investigating the case.

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